Breaking Bad (Blue Magic)

One of the cocktail sites I like to peruse is www.gastronomista.com it’s filled with over the top cocktails that are beautiful but not always accessible. Who really drinks out of a nautilus shell? But this cocktail was do-able for me so I gave it a shot and modified it ever so slightly. The blue curacao is usually gross (may be the brand “bols”) so I toned it down and used it mostly for coloring. Oh and yeah it’s named after TV show about meth, what can go wrong?

Ingredients:

• 2 oz Gin
• 1 oz White Rum (or half ounce white and a half 151 rum)
• ½ oz Orange Liqueur (gran Gala) and ¼ ounce of Blue Curacao
• ½ oz Lime Juice
• Tonic Water
• 1 spoon St. George Absinthe
• grated nutmeg

Shake the first four ingredients, strain into a glass with ice. Add just enough tonic water to give it a little sparkle, maybe an ounce or two. Stir gently then float the absinthe on top and add a pinch of grated nutmeg.

Basil-Strawberry & Balsamic Vinegar Cocktail

This is a great cocktail for the summer. Lots of things going on but all the notes complement each other.

Ingredients:  

• 2-3 Strawberries
• 3-4 Basil leaves
• ½ of a fresh Lime or ½ ounce of Lime juice
• ¾ ounce Caramel Balsamic Vinegar Syrup (see previous post)
• ½ ounce Orange Liquor (I use Gran Gala)
• 2 ounces White Rum (or Cachaça which is even better!)

Muddle the strawberries and basil in a Boston shaker

Add the rest of the ingredients

Shake vigorously to homogenize the ingredients

Double strain into a glass using your traditional cocktail strainer and a “Conical Cocktail Sieve”. The strainer gets the big chunks and the sieve takes care of all of the little bits of basil and ice that can interfere with your drink. Definitely needed for this drink.

I like to use a large square ice cube and garnish it with a slice of strawberry and a basil leaf.

Enjoy!